Former WWE Superstar Tegan Nox has lever up on her release.
Nixon Newell, known to WWE fans as Tegan Nox, was released by WWE as part of the company’s talent cuts back in November of last year. Prior to her release, Nox had been absent from WWE television for a lengthy period, and the 30-year-old Welsh star has now shared an insight into the reasoning behind said absence.
In an exclusive interview with Alistair McGeorge for Metro, Newell recalled having an illness towards the end of her time with WWE which stopped her from being cleared, indicating that it may have eventually ended up as a case of miscommunication that kept her out of the ring. Notably, the former WWE star added that, after being put on medication, she could’ve made an on-screen return but it never progressed, leading her to think that her release was coming sooner than it did.
“I did get incredibly sick for a little while. We didn’t really get a legit answer. I went through tests, I was in hospital, a bunch of different stuff. So I think it was down to a lot of stress mixed with other things. But I was really sick, which didn’t help with the time off. I think that started it all, even though I said, “I’m good to go, it’s just I get sick now and again”. But it wasn’t, like, deathly or anything. I think it was a mix of them wanting to be safe, miscommunication with a lot of different people, because it was going from their doctors to outside doctors to hospitals. I think it just got lost in [translation] and stuff like that. But I think unnecessary time off started with a necessary time off, if that makes sense. I needed that second to try and figure out what was going on, and then when we kind of figured it out, I was on medication, I could have come back, and I was just never brought back from there. I thought I was going to be released a lot sooner.”
-Nixon Newell
Throughout Newell’s career, many people have labelled her as injury prone, however, during the interview, she noted how she once wrestled without an ACL almost a year due to something that happened outside of the ring.
“What a lot of people either don’t realise or don’t want to hear, is that the third injury wasn’t like, it didn’t happen in the ring. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, she’s wrestling on torn knees’. No, something had happened during rehab, when the ACL graft slipped out. It was as simple as that. And I wrestled without an ACL for close to a year.”
-Nixon Newell
While she will now look to return to the indie scene, Nixon went on to reveal that she’s given herself a two-year window to decide what her future holds, with the star looking to restore her passion for wrestling before she turns 33.
“I’m giving myself two years to either find the love, find myself, or just call it a day. Mid 2027, just before my 33rd birthday. That’s a decent amount of time to be able to find myself and be like, “Okay, is it time to retire? Or do I have a little while left?” I think that’s what’s driving me right now, the thought of finding myself and trying to find this happiness again.”
-Nixon Newell
Newell’s last WWE televised match came back April when she teamed with Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark in a loss to Damage CTRL, and she hasn’t been in the ring at all since a dark match with Blair Davenport in July.
As for the future, she’s is set to return to the squared circle on May 18 when she takes on Dani Luna at Welsh promotion Attack! Pro Wrestling’s C’est La Vie show.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Nixon Newell’s time in WWE as soon as we hear more.
